American Redstart

When I hiked the South River Falls Trail, one of the more common birds that I saw was American Redstart. When I say "common", I mean it. They were everywhere. By the end of the hike I was mumbling to myself "yet another Redstart" after taking the time to follow some movement in the trees with my binoculars so that I could identify its source. And like most Warblers, these birds are not what you could call passive. They are always on the move looking for the next tasty bug to catch and eat. In fact, one of the tricks used by American Redstart is to fan its orange and black tail in an attempt to flush insects out for the snagging.

Somehow I managed to get a reasonable photo of a male American Redstart. I have made many attempts at getting a photo of an American Redstart, but they usually move much faster than I can point and focus my camera. Either I got lucky, or this one took pity on me.